Wink Hartman company buying Winfield-based CornerBank

A group led by Wink Hartman is buying Winfield-based CornerBank, which has a branch in Wichita.

Hartman’s Vintage Bancorp Inc. is seeking regulatory approval to become the financial holding company of both Cornerstone Alliance Ltd., the holding company for CornerBank, and of Hartman’s existing bank, Vintage Bank Kansas, according to a news release on the deal, terms of which were not released.

Vintage Bancorp’s primary owner is Hartman, a Wichita entrepreneur and former congressional candidate. He’s part of a partnership that bought State Bank of Leon in December 2010. That bank’s name changed to Vintage Bank Kansas on Jan. 1 this year.

“Wink has been a good customer of CornerBank’s for quite some time,” says Bruce Schwyhart, president and CEO of CornerBank.

Schwyhart says CornerBank leased its first branch space in Wichita from Hartman. Hartman later sold that building and built a new one next to a lot CornerBank owned and was going to build on before the recession hit in 2008, Schwyhart says. A friendship and business relationship formed over the years.

“That’s kind of how this all took place,” he says, adding that talks began after Hartman’s purchase of the Leon bank. The talks also coincided with some elderly CornerBank shareholders’ interest in selling, Schwyhart says.

Vintage Bancorp President Steve Worrell expressed excitement about the deal.

“It gives us the foundation to build upon and a good management team to move forward with,” Worrell says, noting Vintage’s good team but “a deeper, broader team at CornerBank.”

Worrell will remain president and CEO of Vintage, which will remain a state-chartered bank under the umbrella of its new holding company, and Schwyhart will remain president and CEO of CornerBank, which will continue to be a separate national bank.

All of CornerBank’s existing directors will continue to serve on the CornerBank board, and all have indicated they intend to purchase shares of stock in Vintage Bancorp, along with Hartman and Worrell, according to the news release. Employees of both institutions will also remain the same, the release says.

CornerBank is a $275 million community bank chartered in 1872 with facilities and staff in Winfield, Arkansas City, Wellington, Douglass, Oxford, Wichita and Lawrence. Vintage Bank is a $14 million community bank chartered in 1902 and located in Leon.

The acquisition is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Schwyhart expects the deal to close in late August.

“Operationally, everything will remain the same,” Schwyhart says, including the banks’ names. “I think strategically it will give us some opportunities going forward with the additional capital availability.”